This research focuses on how disturbance across a gradient of severity affects the net primary production of Eastern deciduous forests in the US. The four primary objectives include 1) identification of the relationship between NPP resistance and resilience to disturbance severity ; 2) determination of the disturbance severity level at which NPP resilience prompts a shift in dominance from canopy to subcanopy vegetation; 3) quantification of how NPP resistance and resilience relates to light-use efficiency, and 4) determination of how disturbance severity shapes emerging forest communities.